Cut ASF
Cut ASFASFv mutation in China： What does it mean on-farm？-rn

Most messages about China’s pig industry in 2020 and early 2021 are very positive. Even though the African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks of 2019 led to the estimated disappearance of at least 40% of the country’s sow herd, the shortage brought on record prices and profits. A country on the rebound, now swine facilities are built everywhere.For instance, early December 2020 news agency Reuters sent out an impressive article covering a huge 21 multi-storey building swine farm by Muyuan in Henan province, eventually to be housing 84,000 sows. Yet, does that mean that ASF is something of the past? Officially, it does not seem to be a huge problem. In January 2021, the Cut ASF Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) reported 1 infected farm in Guangdong province with 1,015 pigs. The report before that dates from October 2020.There are plenty of reasons to believe that the ASF epidemic is far from over in China, that is, if the virus will ever completely disappear. Mid-January, Reuters reported that various variant ASF viruses had been found in China and attributed that to illegal ASF vaccines (see Box). Dr E. Wayne Johnson is a US pig veterinary consultant in Beijing and he confirms coming across one of these variants.In a correspondence with Pig Progress, he writes: “The ‘new virus’ circulating in China is the double-gene deleted vaccine virus. It lacks safety and its efficacy is not clear. This vaccine has deletions in the MGF360 locus and the CD2v locus which weakens the virus, but does not render it innocuous. It just produces a milder form of the disease.”Dr Johnson compares the vaccine to a barrow “which has had 2 important things removed”, but can still eat and eat.According to Dr Johnson, the double gene deleted vaccine produces a PRRS-like viral reproductive syndrome in vaccinated sows, with stillbirths, mummifications, embryonic deaths, infertility, and abortion. He adds there is some apparent mortality as well as transient fever from the vaccine virus itself, but that vaccine-induced Cut ASF mortality is rather low.Live-born pigs, he says, may be born weak with reduced viability. “Pigs that survive into the grow-finish period appear to shed the vaccine vi……Cut ASFCaribbean animal health specialists visit K-State for workshop on African swine fever mitigation-rn

Cut ASFCut ASF A group 60 animal health specialists representing different countries in the Caribbean visit K-State as part of a four-day workshop on controling the spread African swine fever. On the second day, seminars were presented at the Biosecurity Research Institute. Dr. Jishu Shi (far left), director of the Center on Biologics Development and Evaluation at Kansas State University, was the lead organizer for the workshop.The Center on Biologics Development and Evaluation at Kansas State University recently hosted a special group of visitors for the 2024 African Swine Fever (ASF) Workshop for the Caribbean.“We welcomed more than 60 participants from 28 countries who attended the African swine fever workshop, including 40 veterinarians, chief veterinary officers and technical officers from 20 Caribbean countries,” said Dr. Jishu Shi, director of the center and professor of vaccine immunology in the College of Veterinary Medicine. “The primary goal of this workshop is to establish a sustainable platform that effectively enhances African swine fever surveillance capacity across the Americas.”Antoinette Lona, left, explains some of the procedures that can be performed in the histology department of the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.Activities in the workshop, which was held from June 24 to 28, included updates on African swine fever virus research, hands-on training of diagnostic tests and training on how to use the “Lateral Flow ASF Dx” kit and a seminar on science-based rapid response options for the prevention and control of African swine fever. Participants were given tours of the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Biosecurity Research Institute and K-State Olathe.Researchers in the College of Veterinary Medicine gave several presentations including Dr. Shi, Laura Miller, Stephen Higgs, Roman Pogranichniy, Lihua Wang, Rachel Madera and Lance Noll.K-State’s Dr. Lihua Wang (in white coat) explains the process for performing molecular diagnostic assays to detect African swine fever.Guest presenters included Dr. Linda Dixon, Pirbright Institute, UK; Dr. Eun-Ju Sohn, BioApp, South Korea; Dr. Llilianne Ganges, Animal Health Researc……

Cut ASFASF-Funded Research-rn

Mentor: B. Blair Braden, Ph.D.The Role of Autism Risk Genes in Cognitive and Brain Aging Outcomes in Autistic AdultsCompared to people without autism, the risk of Alzheimer’s disease is 2.6 times higher in people with autism, and they are twice as likely to die prematurely – with autistic women being at even higher risk for premature death. However, very few research studies focus on or even include autistic adults who are middle aged and older. This project capitalizes on a cohort of older autistic and neurotypical adults who receive assessments of brain structure, memory function, and intellectual ability at multiple timepoints as they age. Integrating brain imaging, genomic techniques, and statistical tools, this researcher will determine if autism risk genes also lead to memory decline and how these genes affect brain structure and the cortical thinning that is typical in all older adults. In addition, they will examine sex differences in autistic adult memory and changes in the memory system across age, with the goal of identifying sex-specific biomarkers that can be used to predict who will be most vulnerable to adverse aging outcomes. This work has implications for the future development of precision medicine and other interventions that will increase the quality of life for older adults across the spectrum.Mentor: Stephan Sanders, BMBS, Ph.D.Functional Genomics of the Non-Coding Genome in Autism Spectrum DisorderMost of the genetic research conducted to understand rare genetic forms of autism has been focused on the coding regions of the DNA. In genetics, the coding regions are specific parts of the DNA sequence that directly encode instructions for building proteins. There is still a lack of knowledge around the non-coding regions of the genome, which do not contain instructions to make proteins but rather regulate how genes are turned on and off. Recent studies have shown that the non-coding regions play an integral role in brain development. This study will look at over 700,000 non-coding variants in autism to determine their role and importance.Following the initial analysis, regions that are determined to play a role in the coding of a gene called SCN2A will be……